Fuze 2016: Bristol’s best dressed fight against bullying

On 26 and 27 of February, the Passenger Shed was taken over by a dazzling myriad of stalls selling bespoke items, intense light shows, and enough chiselled cheekbones to make Tyra Banks swoon. The two night dance, fashion, and music extravaganza worked hard for it’s chosen charity, Ditch the Label, which is aimed at preventing bullying through digital support and spreading the message of anti-prejudice amongst young people.

Photo by Dominika Scheibinger-Kunecka

Fuze is the largest student run dance, music, and fashion event in the UK, with 100 percent of the proceeds from the event going to Ditch the Label. Since its inception, Fuze have raised over £100,000 for charity. Fuze raised money through a variety of different avenues, mainly ticket sales, and a raffle at the event. The raffle was not your average village fête style affair, Fuze’s luxury raffle contained prizes including an Illamasqua cosmetics gift set, Ray- Ban sunglasses, and meal vouchers from sponsoring restaurant Five Guys.

Photo by James Chisholm

This year, the event was heavily influenced by the surreal world of Alice in Wonderland. Dances were choreographed to themes such as ‘Down the Rabbit Hole’, and ‘the Garden of Live Flowers’, with a modern twist on Carroll’s classic provided through twenty-first century music, including a haunting rendition of ‘Hanging Tree’ from the Hunger Games series performed by Chloe Bruce-Gardyne.

The event technicians provided the perfect backdrop to each Wonderland element, with spiralling rainbow lights and jolting, clashing images from the classic film complimenting the choreographed madness unfolding on stage. The overall effect of the different perfectly put together elements of the show was one which was intoxicating, professional, and impossible to take your eyes off.

Photo by James Chisholm

Hattie MacEacharn, Fuze’s director of marketing, media, and events, shared her thoughts on the event.

How do you think the event went? 

The show went unbelievably well. It was better than we all expected, everything just really came together at the last moment and it was so amazing to see the models, musicians and dancers all come together on the stage. The decoration of the whole passenger shed was also really cool and a lot of effort had gone into that, and you could see the effort the VIP team had also put in.

Our new system this year with wristbands instead of tickets also worked really well and we were very proud of that. The lighting and tech also ran as smoothly as ever which was pretty awesome!

What was your favourite part of Fuze 2016? 

My favourite part of being the marketing, media and events director of FUZE 2016 was meeting and working with a whole new bunch of fabulous people who I wouldn’t usually have hung out with – and also raising money for charity which, at the end of the day, was the whole point.

Photo by James Chisholm

Being an event largely coordinated towards fashion, the event would be incomplete without models. Fuze’s small team of Bristol’s most aesthetically gifted graced the fuscia-hued stage, slickly walking in a variety of different couture, casual, and swimwear looks.

Tobi Akinkunmi, a model at Fuze 2016, provided some insight on what it was like to take centre stage at this year’s event.

Photo by Gaby Ekaireb

How did you get involved in Fuze? 

I went to the show last year and I really enjoyed it! So when it came to audition this year I was on the fence until my friend dragged me along with him.

 What was your favourite part of Fuze 2016? 

Definitely being part of a team, Fuze felt like a society and through that I’ve made friends I might not have made otherwise.

Currently having Fuze blues, and have spent the last couple of days getting pictures and videos from the two nights.

Photo by Ben Depla

What was your favourite look you modelled? 

My favourite outfit? My fanciest outfit was definitely the garment quarter one, but my best walk was the Thomas Pink one because the outfit was nice and I loved the song too.

What do you think of Fuze’s chosen charity, Ditch the Label? 

I think what Ditch the Label is doing is really good, and I’m glad we could support a cause which is so close to us as students.

Photo by Andy Hoang- www.andyhoang.com

For more information on Fuze, visit their website here.

If you have been affected by bullying, please visit Ditch the Label’s get help page. Alternatively, if you wish to donate to the charity, visit their donation page to get involved.